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Family Life

social-policy-family

An open and liberal society is characterised by a flourishing civil society, of which strong families are a fundamental part. The family unit should be valued and subject to minimal government interference, but there are challenges to this principle. To what extent should the state support the family? Is paternalistic intervention in dysfunctional families justified? How and when should the state act to strengthen the family? CIS research on family life works to address these issues.

Publications

  1. Do Not Damage and Disturb: On Child Protection Failures and the Pressure on Out-of-Home Care in Australia

    Jeremy Sammut | 03 Nov 2011 | Policy Monographs

    This monograph shows that the rising size, cost, and complexity of the out-of-home care system in Australia is directly linked... Read More...

  2. Populate and Perish? Modelling Australia's Demographic Future

    Jessica Brown, Oliver Marc Hartwich | 07 Oct 2010 | Policy Monographs

    Since the publication of the 2010 Intergenerational Report, Australia has been debating its demographic future and whether... Read More...

  3. The Power and the Responsibility: Child Protection in the Post-Welfare State Era

    Jeremy Sammut | 08 Sep 2010 | Occasional Papers

    Government-run child protection services in Australia are plagued by systemic problems, including a misguided emphasis on... Read More...

  4. FEATURE: From Murphy's to Howard's Law

    Sue Price | 17 Jun 2010 | POLICY Magazine

    Shared parenting laws are under threat from feminists with no intention of giving fathers a fair go.

  5. Family on the Edge: Stability and Fertility in Prosperity and Recession

    Barry Maley | 16 Sep 2009 | Policy Monographs

    Barry Maley argues that unless family law and policies rapidly change, family stability and a buoyant birth rate will be... Read More...

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Opinion & Commentary

  1. Liberals Drop Ball in Super Free-For-All

    Adam Creighton | 14 Nov 2011 | Australian Financial Review

    Lifting superannuation to 12% is wrong.... Read More

  2. Focus on 'prevention' abusing kids

    Jeremy Sammut | 09 Nov 2011 | On Line Opinion

    Despite increasing government spending on programs meant to prevent child abuse and entries into care, record numbers of ... Read More

  3. Myths, lies and adoption

    Jeremy Sammut | 08 Nov 2011 | The Geelong Advertiser

    IN 2009-10, 36,000 children were in out-of-home care in Australia and more than two-thirds had been there for at least two ... Read More

  4. Care system still abusing forgotten children.

    Jeremy Sammut | 03 Nov 2011 | The Sydney Morning Herald

    In 2009 the federal parliament apologised to the Forgotten Australians who were physically, sexually, and emotionally abused ... Read More

  5. Paid leave for dads a useless, cynical waste of money

    Jessica Brown | 06 Sep 2011 | The Punch

    Getting dads more involved in parenting is a noble goal. Unfortunately, there is very little evidence that paid paternity ... Read More

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Ideas@TheCentre

  1. Hardly fair to vulnerable children

    Jeremy Sammut | 03 Feb 2012

    Restore citizen-control over the child protection services or watch it fail....

  2. Nudge, nudge, here come the Germans

    Peter Saunders | 20 Jan 2012

    Germans can teach us a lot when it comes to family and social policy....

  3. Paternalist not punitive management of underclass

    Jeremy Sammut | 09 Dec 2011

    Government should intervene in highly dysfunctional families to ensure children are given every opportunity to fulfil the ...

  4. Lazy not a disorder

    Sara Hudson | 02 Dec 2011

    Kids who are allowed to play video games all day shouldn’t be labelled with a disorder – their parents should be labelled ...

  5. Myths, lies and adoption

    Jeremy Sammut | 04 Nov 2011

    The family preservation policies of child protection agencies are responsible for our lagging adoption performance, not the ...

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